Latest nuclear emulsion technology

Abstract

Nuclear emulsion is a extremely high-resolution 3D tracking detector. Since the discovery of the pion by C.F. Powell et al. in 1946, experiments with nuclear emulsions have contributed to the development of particle physics. (e.g. the OPERA collaboration reported the discovery of νμ * ντ oscillations in appearance mode in 2015) The technology of nuclear emulsion still keeps making progress. Since 2010, we have introduced a system of nuclear emulsion gel production to our laboratory in Nagoya University, and have started self-development of the new gel, instead of from the photographic film companies. Moreover, a faster automated emulsion scanning system is developed. Its scanning speed reaches 4000 cm2/h, and the load for analyzing becomes more and more lighter. In this presentation, we report the status of nuclear emulsion technologies for cosmic ray experiments.